Satnav questions and recommendations please

Bean_Counter

Hi,

Looking for my first satnav and would appreciate recommendations and advice based on the following:

1. Area of coverage: UK only

2. I have an iphone but I guess that apps are out of the question as they will rely on being able to get a mobile phone signal, which I do not always get (as I found out to my cost when trying to use Apple Maps and lost the signal.)

3. Live traffic updates required.

4. Needs to be able to transferred from one vehicle to another - however that works.

5. Price guide - £100 to £150ish.

Please let me know if you need more information - thanks in advance.

Iceweasel

You can get a very good Garmin Sat-Nav for £89 at the moment.

It satisfies all your criteria - except it would cover the whole of Europe.

http://www.tesco.com/direct/garmin-nuvi-54-eu-sat-nav-5-lcd-touch-screen-with-ukfull-europe-mapping/329-0354.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=329-0354&ui=mercury&sc_cmp=pcp_GSF_Car_329-0354kpid=329-0354&sc_cmp=ppc_g__&gclid=CI7s0NCkncACFWX3wgodAD0A8g

I wouldn't know what to recommend for the UK only.

You don't HAVE to go to Europe if you don't want to, you know.

forgotmyname

Buy the cheapest and use it on routes you know to get to know its good and bad points.

They are all much of a muchness so just get one that has the features you need.

You can get apps for your iphone thats stores the maps on the phone so no data connection is required.

getmore4less

There are satnav for phones with offline maps.

getmore4less

If happy to pay that get a Nokia phone with drive+ a cheap Payg data(3) and you have live traffic info.

wba31

App for phone is most cost effective, as long as you have a working phone you have a sat nav.
I have the Tomtom app for my phone, and when i lost signal it didn't matter as it works off GPS, however it's £50 so not recommending that app.
Is it Navfree that downloads the maps to the phone? or Co-pilot? one of the two. again means it uses GPS and not mobile connection.

advantage of having it on your phone is that you take your phone with you anyway when at your destination.

I used a windscreen mount for mine and wiped the windscreen when leaving the car, but i did find a thing that clips onto the air vent that had a magnet to stick to a case i was gonna invest in once the screen mount broke, however i changed cars to one with built in sat nav before that happened.

If you do use your phone, I'd recommend getting a decent in car charger (not a cheap amazon thing!). I bought a belkin one for about £10, and got the 32 pin - lightning adapter when upgraded from iPhone 4 to 5.

robatwork

Bear in mind that the tomtom LIVE uses a sim card inside the device to get live updates, so if you have problems with phone signals in your car this may struggle too. I am about 7/10 happy with mine - it's normally accurate but sometimes just gets it totally wrong.

However I wouldn't be without it as I know that it has saved me dozens of hours of journey time in the last couple of years.

Not sure the effectiveness of the Garmin live traffic.

Bean_Counter

Thanks for the advice. In the end decided to go for the CoPilot iphone app and see how it goes. At £19.99 wasn't too much of an outlay.

Richard53

Please post back when you have used the CoPilot for a while and let us know what you think of it. I am seriously thinking of getting this app myself.

bob_a_builder

I am seriously thinking of getting this app myself.

You can get a 14 day trial of co-pilot

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alk.copilot.mapviewer&hl=en

"14 days free use of full voice-guided 3D navigation and ActiveTraffic™. After 14 days you can continue to enjoy free and unlimited access to offline maps, POIs and route planning, or upgrade to unlimited turn-by-turn navigation."

Less clear on iOS version but assume same deal ?

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/copilot-gps-plan-explore-offline/id504677517?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Richard53

bob_a_builder wrote: »

You can get a 14 day trial of co-pilot

Brilliant, thank you.